


Ready?

by Haberdasher



Series: Twitch Plays Pokemon [32]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Twitch Plays Pokemon - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Twitch Plays Crystal, Twitch Plays Pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2844875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AJ beats Silver, reaches the Indigo Plateau, and returns to New Bark Town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready?

AJ hadn’t expected Silver to show up when he was almost at the end of Victory Road. But, apparently, the voices had.

"Hold it." Silver said as AJ tried to walk away. "…Are you going to take the Pokémon League challenge? …Don’t make me laugh. You’re so much weaker than I am.”

The voices didn’t agree, they kept yelling about how Silver was going down, but AJ had to admit that Silver had a point. The very idea of him facing the Elite Four like this was downright laughable. Maybe, after days, or weeks, they’d manage to get through from sheer luck. But the Elite Four would mock him every step of the way, knowing that he was too incompetent to be worthy of their mere presence, let alone taking them down in battle.

Silver, however, while able to coordinate his attacks while AJ searched through his backpack and checked how his Pokemon were doing, was too weak to put up much of a fight. A few short turns, and his Feraligatr had taken down his entire team. The voices flared up in approval.

_A a a b up We did it a up down Solo sweep b b up We’re almost there! a b up b down right We need to heal b up You guys are amazing up b start down b up_

Silver’s speech after he was defeated, for once, wasn’t arrogant and filled with vitriol towards AJ’s luck despite his weakness. Silver seemed to actually respect AJ as a fellow Trainer after all. But when Silver spoke of “what I lack, and what you possess”, AJ couldn’t fathom what he could be alluding to. As far as he could see, Silver had everything he possessed and more.

Silver had his freedom. Silver could come and go as he pleased, plan out his attacks in advance, train for as long as he wanted, stop and go to sleep when he needed it. And what did AJ have that could possibly make up for that? Dumb luck? That didn’t seem quite right, but it was all he could think of that would fit.

The cave entrance was only a few short steps away, and after taking down a few more wild Pokemon, he managed to leave the cave… and promptly went back inside, but walked out again. He marched straight towards the large, foreboding building up ahead. Indigo Plateau, it was called. Home of the Elite Four.

The building which would inevitably make him the laughingstock of Johto’s strongest Trainers.

They demanded that he go to the counter of the Pokemon Center within the building and heal his Pokemon, and AJ obediently walked up to the counter, but then turned and walked towards an old man standing nearby. The old man looked towards AJ and smiled.

"The road ahead of you is a difficult one."

AJ nodded.

"Are you ready to take on the Elite Four? If not, my Abra can Teleport you home."

The voices didn’t want to do it. They kept telling to heal, heal and take on the Elite Four. But AJ knew he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be ready, not in this state.

They begged him to say no, but he refused, forcing a different word to escape his mouth. “Please.”

The old man nodded, his grin growing wider. “Alright. Picture your home in your mind…”

AJ didn’t have to be told twice.

New Bark Town, good old New Bark Town…

He’d visited it a lot in the past few days, but that wasn’t the town he pictured in his mind. No, he remembered the New Bark Town of his childhood, where Professor Elm had shown him a Poke Ball and he’d stared wide-eyed as Elm explained how it could hold even the largest Pokemon, where his mother had grabbed him out of the water when he’d gone swimming and almost been stung by a Tentacool. The place where the grass had been almost as tall as him once, where he’d longed to see the rest of the world, go on some grand adventure, though he never quite figured out the details.

Well, he had his grand adventure now, and he’d much rather be stuck back home. It was a town where nothing much ever happened, and he’d hated that and wished for excitement, but now he’d give anything to be bored at home once again.

The world swirled around him…

He stood outside his home once more, the sun warming his body, the waves gently lapping against the shore, the wind rustling through the grass.

It wasn’t the peaceful place of his childhood anymore, of course. The voices were still there, haunting his mind. And they were furious.

_B right No up right no b start We need to heal right right left up I’M CRYING right down a b lol right up Abra is the False Prophet right right up b right it’s worse than digrat b right a up down start b_

The act would be futile in the long run, of course. The voices would drag him back there, and he’d be forced to face the Elite Four soon enough, and still get laughed at for his apparent stupidity the entire time.

But he’d managed to go back home, if just for a few minutes. And the voices hated that. The voices were angry. The voices hadn’t wanted this, had tried to avoid it, but he had made it happen.

It was a victory in his struggle against the voices- a small victory, a meaningless victory, but a victory nonetheless.

AJ had beaten them, just this once. He had won.


End file.
